John Kormendy: Kenya 2026

This web site contains the pictures from my 2026 August birding trip to Kenya with Victor Emanuel Nature Tours (VENT).

A preliminary check of my records suggests that I got 138 new bird species. I hoped for 150-200, but birding was surprisingly slow. For example, we saw few seedeaters such as waxbills. We missed several birds that are normally associated with this tour, e. g., Golden pipit. My guess is that this was partly due to drought: in fact, we had no rainfall during the tour that significantly hampered birding. The same thing happened during my most recent trip to Borneo. Meanwhile, we appeared to have unusually good luck with mammals. From close up, we saw a lioness kill a Wildebeest; she even dragged the carcass into the shade of our safari vehicle on the way to taking in to more sheltered bushes. We saw a (vanishingly rare) Caracal and a Serval with playful kittens. We repeatedly saw lions up close, plus cheetahs and leopards. And of course, herds of antelope, elephants, even close to our camp, graceful giraffes, and the small scavengers that prey on them -- hyenas, jackals, and vultures -- were as rich as expected. The magic of East Africa and especially of the Masai Mara was endlessly impressive and deeply appreciated by us all.

This web site is under construction.

As always, the purpose of this web site is to catalog my memories, not to showcase the trip for public readers. So I include even poor pictures when they document important sightings. Pictures are copyrighted and should not be used for commercial purposes without my permission.

Calendar

Itinerary and Bird Richness

This is VENT's map of our itinerary, annotated by me. Red filled circles mark overnight stops.

This world map encodes the number of bird species per unit area as published here. The resolution of the original image is 10 x 10 km. Taxonomy is vintage 2018 and maps represent native, extant species only. It is clear why birding is so productive in South America along the Andes mountains and in the Amazon basin, in south-east Asia, where we have birded the foothills of the Himalayas in India and China, and in two crescents that surround Lake Victoria in Africa. This is my first trip to the wonderfully rich area of Kenya just to the east of Lake Victoria.

Trip Birds

Chestnut-bellied sandgrouse (I always love to see sandgrouse, but see the August 11 description for more detail.)

If the concept of "royalty" means anything in the bird world, turacos score high. My second and third trip birds are the two turacos that we saw during the trip.

Schalow's turaco in our tent camp in the Mara

Hartlaub's turaco flyby at the Ark in Aberdare National Park

Travelog and Bird Pictures

I arrived 3 days before the start of the VENT tour to give me time to rest before the birding schedule got hard. This gave me time to bird the grounds of the Hotel Ole Sereni, which was promising to get a few new birds before seeing new birds got rushed.

August 5 - 7: Pre-tour Birding at Nairobi Emara Hotel Ole Sereni

Marabou storks often soared by my hotel room window.

From my window, I looked out on the dry scrub plains of Nairobi National Park. The most common sight was these two zebras, which foraged here quietly every day that I stayed at the hotel.

Baglafecht weaver was -- appropriately enough -- my first life bird of the trip. This is a male. The birds were foraging in fruiting bushes all around the 3rd-floor balcony of the breakfast area of the Ole Sereni Hotel.

Abyssinian thrush, also from the breakfast balcony. This bird is a bit unkempt ... but it is my life bird.

Cape robin-chat (juvenile) It was not new -- I'd seen it in South Africa.

Streaky seedeater in overgrown gully at edge of Nairobi National Park, across the street from the hotel and still seen from the breakfast balcony. Note the strong dark eye and gular stripes, the strong white stripe above the eye, and the generally stripy look. This is my life bird.

Common bulbul

Variable sunbird (immature male)

Augur buzzard, out in Nairobi National Park about as far away as the zebras, above. This is my life bird, the last of 4 new birds on August 5 + 6.

African palm swifts often flew around the hotel and as far into Nairobi National Park as I could see. It is not often that I get even a so-so picture.

I continued to bird on my own on August 7th. Happily, I discoveried early that the part of the Hotel Ole Sereni in which I was staying was only half of the property. An older part of the hotel is located on the other side of our entry way, and the birding there was better than the birding in the new part of the hotel. I could get closer to greenery and flowers. And there was a swimming pool that acted as a magnet to attract birds. So I got 3 more life birds today from closer up than were yesterday's birds.

This juvenile Reichenau's seedeater confidently identified later by our local guide, Chege wa Kariuki III. What is not obvious here is the spectacularly yellow rump, seen much better in adults a few minutes later. This is my life bird.

A little later, an adult Reichenau's seedeater put on for me a definitive display of his yellow rump. As did several other birds who did not come as close.

Streaky seedeater -- much better than yesterday's view

Abyssinian thrush, also much better than yesterday's view

Hamerkop atop the fence around Nairobi National Park, across the street from our hotel

Variable sunbird -- busy in the flower birds especially around the old part of the hotel

Amethyst sunbird (Thanks to Andy Whittaker for confirming the ID.)

Speckled mousebird (This is my life bird.)

Superb starling frequent the hotel grounds, according to the trip itinerary. Until late morning on August 7th, I had not seen them. But by the time of the most recent several sightings and pictures, above, I had wandered along the hotel grounds to the swimming pool at its east end. Suddenly, a noisy flock of half-a-dozen Superb starlings arrived. Spectacular, as advertised. They are my life birds.

Ring-necked dove

African pied wagtail

Baglafecht weaver (female)

White-browed sparrow-weaver (Beautiful bird, not new: I'd seen it in South Africa)

Red-throated crag martins zoomed by, each touching down in the swimming pool for a split-second. This bird is flying up and away; you can see two rings of waves where his wings touched water during the swoop in to snatch a drink. Many thanks to Chege for identifying this bird.

Reichenau's seedeater and other birds came in to drink, often in the shallows: water is a reliable bird magnet in this dry climate.

Even Common bulbul showed up to check on the fuss around the pool.

African pied wagtail again -- classy bird

Wire-tailed swallow also came, attracted by the pool.

I got 7 new birds in the three days before the VENT tour started. Moreover, there was time to try to get good pictures. Once the tour started, sightings got hectic and brief, so -- except for some cooperative ground birds -- pictures starting tomorrow tend to be less good.

August 8: Nairobi National Park

The VENT tour started with an all-day safari drive in Nairobi National Park.

Helmeted guineafowl (These two birds are unusually drab.)

Long-tailed fiscal (This is my life bird -- brief view; bad angle.)

Northern pied-babbler (This is my life bird.)

Sentinel lark (This is my life bird. I never got a great look, but the generally rufous look especially in the wings, is reasonably clear.)

Yellow-necked spurfowl (This is my life bird.)

Shelley's francolin is at right, supremely well camouflaged. At left is the title page picture posted at ebird. It's clear that we saw it -- this is my life bird -- even though our view was far from satisfying.

Kenya rufous sparrow (This female is my life bird.)

Kenya rufous sparrow (This is a juvenile.)

Yellow-throated longclaw (I had seen this species in South Africa.)

Common ostrich male in breeding plumage

August 9: Lake Nakuru

August 10 - 15: Masai Mara National Reserve

Lilac-breasted roller

Black-lored babbler (This is my life bird.)

Schalow's turaco was -- for me -- the most gorgeous bird that we saw during the trip. And we saw it from within our tent camp in the Mara. This is my life bird.

Lions were a constant presence in the Mara. We needed to be escorted by an armed Masai warrior between our tents and the dining area at night, because lions could wander into camp. This movie shows one of the dominant males in the region proclaiming that this is his territory: "Stay away!"

There were three dominant male "brothers" (allied, whether or not they were siblings) in the area. This movie shows one of them walking almost straight toward our safari vehicle. Seconds after the end of the movie, he passed within a meter in front of us. Predators are very used to safari vehicles. This one ignored us completely. We do however understand why nobody is allowed to get out of a vehicle without a careful check that no predators are nearby: As soon as we alight, we look like food.

Yellow-spotted bush sparrow (This is my life bird.)

Black-backed cisticola (This is my life bird.)

Fan-tailed grassbird (Catriscus brevirostris) Formerly Broad-tailed warbler; this is my life bird.

Pectoral-patch cisticola (This -- presumably female -- is my life bird. It was difficult to get this bird: it was not common; it was elusive, tiny, and hard to see, and it was hard to persuade our guides to focus on this species.)

This was our last sunset at Masai Mara National Reserve. It was superb to spend 6 days here, immersed in the immensity of east Africa, surrounded by vast herds of wildlife, with no fences, no buildings, nothing to constrain the magical freedom of the wild. Spiced with the the realization that lions -- we thought we heard them -- could wander through our tent camp in the night. The emergency replacement of our original lodge with a bush camp was, in the end, a blessing. We lived so much closer to nature. And we were superbly taken care of by the nicest and most helpful staff -- whether armed with a cold beer or a protective spear -- that I have had the pleasure of meeting anywhere in the world.

August 16 - 17: Lake Baringo

August 18 - 19: Aberdare National Park

Hartlaub's turaco (This is my life bird. Two birds flew by when I was barely ready for them: these were my only looks.)

Spectacled weaver (This is my life bird.)

African hill babbler (Despite the name, this is a warbler, Sylvia abyssinica. It is typical of my tiny life birds seen only briefly and far away.)

Moustached tinkerbird (This is my life bird.)

Black sawwing -- a mostly black swallow with long forked tail. I mostly get such birds only if the tour gives me time to photograph them. This bird was not new -- I'd seen it in South Africa. Not surprisingly, I did not remember that when I saw it here, two decades later.

Silvery-cheeked hornbill (This is my life bird.)

August 20 - 22: Samburu: Buffalo Springs and Shaba National Reserves

Chestnut-bellied sandgrouse (This is my life bird. I have never seen a sandgrouse that was not beautiful, but this one has a special reason to be my top "trip bird". Many bird species have been introduced to Hawaii for various reasons -- in this case for hunters. Most are well establishd and "ebird countable". But this is the principal such bird that I never managed to see in Hawaii -- not in the 1990s, when we lived there, and not since then, when we have gone back for visits. So this has been a "nemesis bird" for me for 30 years. It was therefore a special pleasure to see it ... and to see it here, in Kenya, where it is native.)

August 23: Drive Back to Nairobi

Our bird pictures from around the world follow standard ecozones approximately but not exactly:

Birds from the USA and Canada:   our house,   Hornsby Bend and greater Austin,   Texas,   California,   Hawaii,   Canada,

Neotropic birds from Central America and the Caribbean:   Honduras,   Costa Rica,   Panama,   Trinidad and Tobago

Neotropic birds from South America:   Ecuador,   Ecuador 2017,   Brazil.

Western palearctic birds:   Europe: Germany, Finland, Norway,   Europe: United Kingdom,   Europe: Spain,   the Canary Islands,   Europe: Lesbos, Greece,   Israel

Eastern palearctic birds:   China

Birds from Africa:   The Gambia,   South Africa

Indo-Malayan birds from   India: North-west (Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand)   India: North-east (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya)   India: Central (Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh)

Birds from   Australia,   New Zealand.

For our 2014 December trip to India, see this travelog.

For our 2016 May-June trip to India, see this travelog.

For our 2017 April trip to High Island, Texas, see this web site.

For our 2018 March trip to India, see this travelog.

For our 2018 May trip to China, see this travelog.

For our 2018 October trip from Munich to Budapest, Hungary see this travelog.

For our 2018 November trip to China, see this travelog.

For our 2019 April trip to High Island, Texas, see this web site.

For our 2019 July trip to China, see this travelog.

For our 2021 April trip to High Island, Texas, see this web site.

For the 2021 August 3 & 4 migration of Purple martins through Austin, see this web site.

For our 2021 December trip to Ecuador, see this web site.

For our 2022 January-February trip to Peru, see this web site.

For our 2022 July/August trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea, see this web site.

For our 2022 September trip to Bolivia, see this web site.

For our 2022 November-December pre-trip to Argentina (before our Antarctic cruise), see this web site.

For our 2022 November-December cruise to Antarctica, see this web site.

For our 2023 January birding in Chile, see this web site.

For our 2023 January-March cruise from Chile to Antarctica and around South America to Miami, FL, see this web site.

For our 2023 March-April birding in south Florida (after the Seabourn cruise), see this web site.

For our 2023 November-December birding to Sri Lanka, the Andaman Islands, and South India, see this web site.

For John's 2024 February-March birding in Colombia, see this web site.

For our 2024 May-June cruise from Iceland to Jan Mayen Island to and around the Svalbard Archipelago, see this web site.

For our 2024 June 25-30 stay in Paris, see this web site.

For our 2025 April 21 - May 3 trip to High Island, Texas, see this web site.

For our 2025 July vacation and birding in Singapore, see this web site.

For our 2025 August birding in north-west Australia, see this web site.

For our 2025 August-October Seabourn cruise from Australia to Chile, see this web site.

For our 2026 January-February trip to New Zealand and 3rd cruise to Antarctica, see this web site.

For my 2026 March-April trip to Borneo and Singapore, see this web site.

For my 2026 August trip to Kenya, see the present web site.